AP PhotoDetroit's Drew Miller celebrates with his teammates after a goal against Buffalo.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Detroit Red Wings launched what figures to be the most challenging month of their season in fine form Friday.

The Red Wings scored three goals in the first period, continue to play strong defensively, and got another solid effort out of goaltender Jimmy Howard, defeating the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 at First Niagara Center for their seventh consecutive victory.

Jakub Kindl scored his first goal of the season. Johan Franzen notched his team-high 11th goal. Valtteri Filppula continued on a roll with another goal. Pavel Datsyuk scored an empty-net goal and added an assist for his fifth multiple-point game in the past seven games.

Howard, making his 17th consecutive start in goal, stopped 27 shots to improve to 15-5-1. Jochen Hecht spoiled his shutout bid with 6:13 to play in the third period.

"Our guys came ready to play," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "We were real hard on the puck, skated, did lots of good things, especially early. Got ourselves a big lead, took penalties in the second period, and even though we had big kills we kind of lost the momentum.

"I thought the third period we weren’t quite as good. You’re up 3-0, so those things happen. I would have liked to see us continue to go after them. I didn’t like to see us give up the goal. I don’t think we needed to have a pinch in that situation.

"But a good win for our team and very important against a skilled Buffalo team."

The last time the Red Wings won seven in a row was from March 20-April 1, 2010. Howard played all seven games back then, too.

Detroit has won four in a row on the road to improve to 6-5-0 away from home. The Red Wings play 10 of 15 games on the road in December. This was the first game in a stretch that sees them play 14 of 19 away from home.

"I think if we play like did last year on the road — we had one of the best records -- then it’s nothing," Babcock said. "If you get it in your head that you can’t play on the road, then it becomes a problem for you.

"To me, we should have a real good road team. We’re not worried about matchups very much. We’ve got good center ice position and they’re all pretty good defensively. Let’s play the games."

Trailing 3-0, the Sabres had a chance to get back in the game with three consecutive power plays in the second period. But the Red Wings shut them down.

"We did a lot of good things, keeping them out on the perimeter, just having them move around and being in lanes," Howard said.

The Red Wings dominated the first period, controlling the puck in the offensive zone much of the time, making precision passes and making it look easy as they scored three unanswered goals. Tomas Holmstrom provided net-front presence on the first two.

Kindl began the surge by scoring at 8:50. He threw the puck at the net from the point. It was deflected past goalie Jhonas Enroth by Sabres defenseman Andrej Sekera, Kindl said.

"We were talking about it before the game, we have to shoot the puck," Kindl said. "That was a good pass by Tommy, I just tried to get it through and finally it went in."

Franzen made it 2-0 on the power play at 13:38. He fired in a shot from the slot after controlling a nice slap-pass from Nicklas Lidstrom.

"We pressured hard on their (defensemen), had a lot of room in the middle," Franzen said. "Got it off my skate and finally got it on my stick. Homer did a good job in front of the net as usual. The goalie couldn’t see it."

Filppula capped the rally at 14:41. Henrik Zetterberg stole the puck from Hecht at the Buffalo blue line and centered a backhand pass to an onrushing Filppula. He sidestepped Marc-Andre Gragnani in the slot and fired a shot past Enroth.Filppula has five goals and two assists in his past five games.

"We started the way we wanted to," Kindl said. "They’re a quick team so we had to be even quicker, make smart decisions with the puck, try to wear their D down and it worked."

Buffalo scored at 13:47 of the third period when Hecht converted a pass from Jason Pominville on a two-on-one. Datsyuk wrapped it by scoring with 1:17 remaining. He has six goals and 13 points in his past eight games.

A Detroit team that was battling to get into playoff position a couple of weeks ago now is challenging for the top spot in the Western Conference.

"We feel we have a good team when we play with tempo," Babcock said. "We got a lot of good players, lot of experience, a good calmness about us. We don’t get too high, don’t get too low, just keep on playing. We think we chance to be a good team. Only time’s going to tell.

"But we also understand how tight the league is. We played pretty consistent all year long and still had a six-game losing streak, so that’s how tough the league is."